A collection of 140 artworks on display at the Asian Art Museum — some new, others hundreds of years old — presents a fresh look at the concept of Asian cosmology, spirituality and the supernatural
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"Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past," which runs May 18-Sept. 2, is the first large-scale exhibition of contemporary art organized by the museum, and features new and older works in the same space.
"This creates a new curatorial practice," noted Jay Xu, museum director. "The exhibit breaks down the walls between the past and present."
"This is the most ambitious contemporary art show in the history of the museum," said Xu during a press preview May 16, during which Choi Jeong Hwa's striking sculpture of an inflated red lotus — lit up and slowly moving on a motor — was unveiled at Civic Center Plaza across the street from the museum.
Fans of Indian and South Asian art will get the chance to see works by well-known names such as Raqib Shaw and newer talents such as Jagannath Panda in the show, which features work from 31 contemporary artists from Japan, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, Korea and other Asian countries.
Panda, a painter and sculptor from Gurgaon, presents a complex and not-all-flattering portrait of modern India in his works in the show, such as the 2012 painting "The Cult of Appearance III." In the mixed media painting, Panda juxtaposes the never-ending construction seen around Gurgaon and Delhi with the building of the Bridge to Lanka as portrayed in the Ramayana.

Panda says that Indian Americans are coming to appreciate his work. "I see the way they have interest in how India is changing. The two worlds can exist simultaneously together. So can the past and present," he told India-West.

In addition to being on display at the Asian Art Museum, Panda's work can currently be seen in his first American solo show, at the Frey Norris Contemporary & Modern gallery in San Francisco through June 30.

Though the layers of meaning in Panda's sculptures and paintings hold particular interest to South Asians and other knowledgeable viewers, the works can be also appreciated by Western viewers unfamiliar with his themes, said gallery owner Raman Frey. "You can also be seduced by the strangeness and the beauty" of Panda's work, he added.

Other South Asian artists on display in the "Phantoms of Asia" show include British Indian artist Raqib Shaw, an acclaimed painter whose huge, dense and brightly colored canvases recall the troubling themes of Milton's "Paradise Lost."

Pakistani artist Adeela Suleman has contributed a dramatic hammered stainless steel relief portraying a peacock and a nuclear missile; Mysore-based painter N.S. Harsha incorporates recordings of drums into the experience of his multimedia pieces which express the human connection to the cosmos; and Prabhavathi Meppayil uses traditional Indian goldsmith techniques to embed gold fibers into stark gesso (plaster) surfaces. Varunika Saraf's dreamy paintings, inspired by the Mughal miniature painting tradition, draw on subjects from mythology in lush, inviting pastel and washed shades. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who was also on hand for the opening of the exhibit, praised the Asian Art Museum for doing "a great job with our historical artifacts," but also praised its willingness to embrace contemporary art. "This is a wonderful city, where we are getting all different perspectives from around the world," Lee said.

The show is curated by Mami Kataoka of the Mori Art Museum of Tokyo in collaboration with Allison Harding, assistant curator of contemporary art at the Asian Art Museum. Harding invites viewers to experience the old and new works side by side to more fully appreciate their themes.

The Asian Art Museum is located at 200 Larkin Street in San Francisco.

For information on the show and its related programming, such as family events and the stylish evening MATCHA shows with DJs, visit www.asianart.org or phone (415) 581-3500.

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